Neon may be the toast of Cannes — again — after landing its seventh consecutive Palme d’Or on Saturday thanks to “Fjord,” but according to Boots Riley, the distributor could have had another hot film in its festival lineup. With the musician and filmmaker’s latest movie “I Love Boosters” having hit cinemas on May 22, Riley has […]

James Gray has revealed that the released version of his 2019 Brad Pitt-starring “Ad Astra” was not his cut — and was actually made longer than he wanted by the studio, 20th Century Fox. Speaking in Cannes to Brut to promote his latest film at the festival, “Paper Tiger,” the director didn’t hold back when it […]

Arise Sir Peter Lord and Sir David Sproxton, but very slowly, just a little bit at a time. The founders of Aardman Animations, the legendary stop-motion pioneers behind “Wallace and Gromit,” “Shaun the Sheep” and “Chicken Run,” have been knighted in King Charles’ birthday honors, issued annually to celebrate outstanding achievements and contributions to British […]

“House of Guinness,” Netflix’s boozy period drama based on the famed Irish brewing family, is coming back for another round. Variety understands that a second season of the show, created by Stephen Knight, has now been greenlit by the streamer, with production due to kick off in early 2027. Netflix declined to comment. Set in […]

There was once a time when “straight-to-VHS” was a slur, code for largely terrible bargain bucket movies made for next to nothing yet sporting wildly-overpromising covers. Today, it’s not even a thing. VHS tapes were replaced by DVDs and eventually streaming. The last VCR player was made in 2016. Most machines lie broken, covered in […]

Alfie Williams, the British teenage actor who enjoyed a major breakout last year thanks to his lead role in “28 Years Later,” has landed U.S. representation. Following what it described as a “highly competitive situation involving all major agencies,” Gersh has now signed the 15-year-old for representation in all areas. Williams became one of the […]

Paapa Essiedu, star of HBO’s upcoming “Harry Potter” series and a newly-crowned Olivier Award winner, has taken time away from playing Professor Snape to join Maxine Peake (“I Swear,” “Say Nothing”) in the British short film “Laundreams.” Producer Tobi Kyeremateng, who won the BAFTA TV for best short form for 2023’s “How to Be a […]

Tom Quinn landed in the U.K. for a special talk at SXSW London less than two weeks after Neon claimed its seventh consecutive Palme d’Or in Cannes, this time thanks to Cristian Mungiu’s “Fjord.” The exec — whose indie distributor marks only its 10th birthday next year — said the ongoing run of wins was “extraordinary,” but […]

Paddington Bear has found a new pair of writers to come up with his next big screen adventure and looks to have secured a director as well. Variety can exclusively confirm that Armando Iannucci, the Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated Scotsman best known for creating hit satirical shows “Veep” and “The Thick of It,” is set to […]

Iona Bell, the young British actress who’s set to appear in “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” later this year, has signed with Paradigm. Paradigm will collaborate with Bell’s long-term U.K representative Mark Jermin Management. Bell landed the coveted role of Lou Lou in Lionsgate’s upcoming franchise instalment, which serves as both a sequel […]

The intersection of technology and culture may be the main focus of SXSW London, but that’s not to say there isn’t room for a splash of old fashioned period rom-com in the lineup. On the first day of the Austin spinoff’s second edition in London, “Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day” served as the opening night […]

SXSW London kicks off with near perfect timing: Just weeks earlier, the U.K.’s AI sector reported record investment numbers, underscoring London’s status as the AI capital of Europe. “AI as the New Power Structure” is, aptly, a central theme of the second edition of the Austin spinoff. In fact, a big reason SXSW made the […]